Neptune House

Not to be confused with Neptune Hall, which used to be part of the National Maritime Museum, or Trident Hall, which used to be the lecture theatre for the naval college.

Nicholas asks:

“From my terrace I have a perfect view on “Neptune House” (now a alternative medicine center) which is a very big big house (70 Royal Hill best seen from google map). I would be curious to read anything about it (what is linked to the old railway that run at the back of it? Was it a private house?)”

The Phantom replies:

I’m convinced that it is to do with the old Greenwich to Nunhead railway line – though I have no proof save the tell-tale Victorian ‘railway building’ architecture and the fact that it’s actually on the old line - that particular part of it is now, after a gallant war against the developers, Prior Street Allotments (the post also has a good picture of Neptune House from another angle).

The idea of a railway line between Nunhead and Greenwich may seem a bit odd at first – not unlike, say, a cable car between Greenwich Peninsula and Albert Dock, but it was the born of the same gleam in a transport owner’s eye – the hope of bringing attractions to the masses – or maybe the masses to attractions. Nunhead wasn’t a million miles away from Crystal Palace, and there were handy ways to get there from Nunhead, and, IMHO, slightly more importantly, it provided a way for the infamously death-obsessed Victorians to get to their own local Magnificent Seven cemetery (you haven’t been yet? Shame on you. It’s fabulous. Get there pronto – I bet it looks brilliant in the snow…)

I don’t really want to get into the history of the Greenwich to Nunhead branchline today – if I’m honest I’m a bit scared of all the railway historians who will jump all over me if I get a rivet of it wrong – but there’s a brief history of it here.

I don’t know what the building in Royal Hill is. It certainly wasn’t a station – there wasn’t one between Greenwich Park Station (which stood where the Ibis Hotel and its accompanying car park are now) and Blackheath Hill (there are some good but sad photos of that here) so I’m wondering if it was offices – or even the private residence of the owner – I’m guessing that even the station master wouldn’t have been able to afford to live somewhere as smart as that.

It’s all guesses though. If this was SE3 I would have just been able to consult my copy of Rhind. Sadly this is SE10 and to my knowledge no one has done such a thorough study of Greenwich. None of the railway sites I’ve been looking at mentions the building at all.

Of course it’s possible it’s nothing to do with the rail, but I’m doubting that. Any more info will not only be gratefully received by Nicholas but me too.

STOP PRESS: I am receiving information that it’s NOT a railway building but something else entirely. Watch this space.

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This entry was posted on Monday, December 20th, 2010 at 8:46 am and is filed under Places of Interest. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

3 Comments to “Neptune House”

I have got caught with that building – thinking it was something to do with the railway. Can’t remember what it was – some sort of institute?? Anyway there is someone knows what it was and hopefully they are reading this …………………